Pleasure Educator MakeUpandSin talks Cannabis & Sensuality, Pleasure Education, Consumption & Beyond

Carly S. is a badass multi-talented sex and pleasure educator, queen of wands, blogger, and beyond! We were thrilled at the opportunity to chat with her about sensuality and cannabis, stigma, consumption, and beyond!

Let’s start from the beginning, for those who are wondering what pleasure education means here is the 411 from Carly, “It’s what folks think it is. Sexuality isn't one size fits all and people have to do the work to get to know their bodies and preferences. I can help you figure out what questions to ask yourself but ultimately you gotta do the work of exploring.“

You can incorporate cannabis into your at-home sensuality exploration practice to enhance and stimulate. “It can help ground you in your body and quiet the noise in your brain. It can also enhance blood flow when applied topically. “

Carly also says patience is key when it comes to learning more about your body and sensuality. “Don’t get frustrated if things aren't immediately mind-blowing. It’s all a learning curve for our own preference and there's no wrong way to explore as long as there's consent.”

One of the things that inspires us so much about Carly is her tenacity towards breaking stigma in so many aspects of her life as a polyamorous, thick, and beautiful woman of color. She continues to make leaps and bounds when it comes to normalization in so many places from sex work to cannabis she is a woman for change and we love it!

It was that fire and passion for opening the world up to inclusivity, accessibility, education, and openness that led Carly to start her career as a pleasure educator. “I was working for a motorcycle dealership doing events and marketing and it was a super repressed and misogynistic environment. I thought it was going to be fun opening minded people and I was very wrong. I had previous experience running sexuality-based workshops in college so I applied to work at a sex-positive boutique and became a supervisor then-manager then eventually a buyer, all while teaching workshops and starting a review blog.”

She loves that she can enrich people’s lives through pleasure education and help them reach those “ah-ha moments”. The love that she puts into her work is mirrored back from the communities and clients she helps. Carly finds motivation and inspiration from the fact that people have been so open and excited about the services and educational tools she provides. “I am inspired by how many people came up to compliment my workshop after teaching about BJs to a packed room at a porn convention. Then people actually taking my tips and buying the tools that were most applicable to their sex lives!”

Carly is also inspired by how the sex education/adult industry has been adapting in such a tumultuous time in our world. There is so much misunderstanding in this sector from the general populous, but we can all learn something from the support and comradery of the sex work community.

For people interested in branching into the Sex Industry, Carly recommends focusing on making your education as queer-focused and intersectional as possible. Inclusivity and accessibility is the name of the game!

Carly had her first consumption experience in college, “My mother was actually a social worker at a drug treatment center for most of my life so I didn’t start exploring cannabis until college and the person I was dating at that time introduced me.”

She sees positive change via canna-consumers moving towards a community due to policy change, “I think it’s more of a community working towards a common goal now that legalization has started. It seems like most folks in the community want previously incarcerated people released, as well as federal legalization, and the common goal feels more united in the community aspect.”

While Carly has personally experienced more stigma because of her marginalized identities she does think there is room for stigma change within the cannabis space. “They assume cannabis consumers are a monolith. There are cannabis users of all walks of life and you can't make assumptions based on their cannabis consumption.”

She has personally found cannabis consumption helpful with her mental health and wellness, “It’s been amazing for managing my anxiety and improving my relationship with food.” For anyone looking for a way to pamper yourself with some Fab & Faded Feb SelfCare, Carly shared her favorite go-to, “A bath and a blunt. Followed by oiling my body with my favorite body oil. I love to use that time to listen to a podcast I enjoy or meditate.” Yes, please!

She uses honest self-awareness as her compass for balancing a packed schedule with cannabis consumption. “Knowing my own limits and what I can accomplish while stoned and being realistic about my work output.”

She thinks there is a real need for policy change and support in the cannabis sector, “By stopping criminalization we can focus on the healing properties and correctly allocate research as well as funding to folks with actual deadly addictions getting help and not persecution.”

When it comes to the cannabis and sex work communities she is excited about change and improvement when it comes to inclusivity, access, and representation. Carly is already seeing movement when it comes to cannabis business ownership for women of color, and is incredibly inspired by this community making their voices heard!

Carly is also excited about the growth in sex education and pleasure, she looks forward to it becoming more accessible and gender-neutral, and we couldn’t agree more.

She is continuing to work on business consulting and more content creation partnerships and is a beacon of leading by being an example, and not letting roadblocks or status quo’s stand in her way.

We love everything about this bada$$ stigma-crushing dynamo, and it’s not just because we are fellow Virgo’s and Bronx-based. She is putting in work to make the world a better place inside and out of the cannabis community, and we can’t wait to see what is next up for Carly! Get more information about Carly and her projects by following her on Instagram @makeupandsin.